[damien c]

Originally Posted by Lister of Smeg

So you're saying if he has an sli setup quad core 4+ GB of RAM and is using a cheap & nasty 500W winpower, he is not likely to fry his machine!

---------- Post added at 22:03 ---------- Previous post was at 21:59 ----------



I would only ever recommend a value PSU for just that basic use i.e. for a office machine or just browsing the web.

A Cheap PSU...

Is very unlikely to supply the stated wattage - none of the cheaper ones do
Is very likely to be noisy, either immediately or after using it for a short while
It might not have enough connectors or the right sort
It's very unlikely to be '80 plus' certified http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_PLUS

It's a false economy basically, but if you must use a cheap PSU get one at least 100W higher

I have ran a system with a high end dual core AMD cpu overclocked with 2 8800gts's in sli with, 3 hdd's and dvd etc using a cheap and nasty 700w power supply.

I had to use the molex to pci-e adaptor's to get enough and they worked fine.

I ran that system for about 6 month's until I upgraded the whole system including my power supply.

That cheap and nasty power supply is still going strong today after being used everyday for over 2 years, and will probably carry on till I have to change it or just throw it in the bin.

Just because they are cheap does not mean they are poor power supplies, sometimes they can surprise you and be better than the high priced ones.

As for the 80+ thing that really is only required for multi card setup's as a single card does not require a 80+ power supply, most will only require a normal power supply and most now are 80+ anyway.